Luke List, unable to resist the pleadings of a young fan, gave away his cap after tapping in for a two-under-par 70 and a close-but-no-cigar top-five finish Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Apparently, the kid was really giving the 38-year-old veteran a hard time. He used some slick language, including the word “please”. Ruthless.

“The kid had just said: ‘Can I please have it?’ And I’m kind of a sucker for kids saying please and thank you,” List explained. “You’d be surprised how often we don’t hear that out on the road.”

A few minutes later, List tracked the kid down and asked to get his hat back. We’re fairly sure he said “please”. And a few minutes after that List was saying “thank you” to PGA Tour rookie Ben Griffin and three other peers when he beat them all in a sudden-death playoff and stole his second career victory.

WHAT A PUTT!

Luke List drains it from distance for the win @Sanderson_Champ ? pic.twitter.com/KdIlrAjS57

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 8, 2023

Taking advantage of a second life given to him when Griffin bogeyed the 72nd hole, List, hat firmly affixed atop his noggin, sank a 43-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win the second event of the new FedEx Cup Fall series in Jackson, Missouri.

List, who won his first PGA Tour title by beating Will Zalatoris in a playoff at the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open, was certain that his 18-under 270 total at the Country Club of Jackson was going to fall short. But Griffin, the 54-hole leader, struggled coming home. He missed an eight-foot par putt that would have given him his first tour title in just his 36th start.

List, 38, was making just his second start since the Genesis Scottish Open in July after being sidelined by a thumb injury. He entered the week 119th in the FedEx Cup standings and 159th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He now has earned another berth in the Masters, which is nice because he lives in Augusta, Georgia. Interestingly, List had not recorded a top-10 finish between victories, a span of 47 starts.

“I didn’t think it was going to be enough, but here we are,” List said. “It’s been a crazy [last] 20 minutes. My heart rate is going pretty good right now. I told my caddie I was going to pour it in, and I willed it in.”

Griffin’s bogey, his fifth in his last 11 holes, also gave a second chance to rookie sensation Ludvig Aberg, Henrik Norlander and Scott Stallings, who won the event in 2012 when it was played at Annandale Golf Club. Griffin had tied the 54-hole scoring record held by Stallings and Steve Lowery and began the day with a three-stroke lead, but he struggled to a 74, hitting just three fairways and nine greens. He had suffered just one bogey before Sunday.

“Yeah, I just got a little loose out there today. It was a grind pretty much all day. I didn’t really have a ton of control,” said 27-year-old Griffin. “I got out of position a lot, and I saved bogeys when I needed to, maybe got a tough break here or there with a plugged lie, whatever it may be. But yeah, it’s hard closing out on the PGA Tour, and I should have got it done. It’s a bummer. But I’ll be back.”

Griffin moved up to 51st in the FedEx Cup Fall standings. Players who finish 51st to 60th earn an exemption into the first two signature events next year, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational.

List jumped from 119th to 61st. His best previous finish of the season came in January when he was joint 11th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Aberg was the first to putt in the playoff, but his 53-foot putt on the 18th green veered left. List, putting on the same line, took advantage of the read and poured in his putt. He reacted with an emphatic fist pump followed by another a few seconds later.

“Yeah, I think all my emotion kind of came out after that putt, and then it was just shock, really, still,” List said after pocketing $1.476 million — surpassing his season earnings to date.

Griffin, who also let a late lead slip away last autumn at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, came up short on his chance from a similar line from 32 feet. Stallings, just off the back edge of the green, missed from a similar distance. That left Norlander, who like List hadn’t posted a top-10 finish all season. He faced a pitch from behind the hole from 18 feet but struck it much too hard and wide left.

The five-man playoff was the first of that size since the 2016 RSM Classic won by Mackenzie Hughes. Coincidentally, Norlander was a part of that one, too.

Aberg, a member of last week’s winning European Ryder Cup team and the lone participant in Rome to make the trip to Mississippi, shot a final-round 68. Stallings shot 70 and Norlander, who bogeyed two of his last five holes after catching Griffin briefly for a share of the lead at 20 under par, also had a 70.

Mark Hubbard, who finished T-6, bogeyed his final two holes after also grabbing a share of the lead and missed the playoff by a stroke. He had a final-round 67. Carl Yuan also fell one stroke shy. He eagled the par-4 17th hole from 119 yards but then bogeyed 18. He settled for a 72.

Unlike Patrick Cantlay at the Ryder Cup the week before, List knew his hat fit just fine. He had a back-up, but, as he explained in retrieving the gamer: “That one did me right, so it was nice to have that one for the playoff.

“The young kid, I told him: ‘Hey, bud, I’m sorry to have to get this back. I think there might be a chance of a playoff.’ Even when I said it then, I didn’t really believe it,” List added. “I just kind of go through the motions going down there, and then when he hit just in the rough there on 18, I was like: ‘OK, maybe there’s a chance.’ I did find him right after the playoff or after the trophy presentation and was able to give him the hat back. I didn’t sign it yet. Hopefully I can get him a signed hat later.”

The victory allows him to take care of another kid. His daughter Ryann had been bugging him to bring home another trophy. “Yeah, I’m very excited because my daughter has been kind of on me, it’s time to win another trophy,” List said. “And she really enjoyed the surfboard at Torrey Pines, and I told her earlier in the week there was a rooster or chicken or whatever you want to call it, so she’s pretty excited.

“I think we’ll have to get her a little mini version of it.”

Yeah, OK, as long as she says please.

Main image: Jonathan Bachman

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Sure, List has been hankering for a second shot at Augusta National Golf Club, and he finally found his way into the field again with his victory in January at the Farmers Insurance Open. But over the last four years there has been a growing sense of angst — and frustration — about not possessing the right credentials to get past the club’s front gate the first full week of April. That feeling is impossible to shake off when you can find yourself driving on Washington Road, where the entrance to Augusta National is located, just about any day of the week.

Four years ago, List and his wife Chloe decided to move to Augusta to raise their family. (They have two children.) Chloe happens to be an Augusta native, and her parents still reside there. Convenient from a family standpoint, but torture otherwise if you don’t receive a Masters invitation.

“I’ve driven by Magnolia Lane hundreds of times. And, believe me, that’s been a little tough,” List, 37, said during the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. “Especially starting last fall. We moved to a new house, and it’s kind of hard to not drive past it to get to the places I need to go. Before, I could sort of skirt around it to go practise at Champions Retreat or Augusta Country Club.”

Without giving away the exact location of his residence, List revealed that: “I don’t know if anyone has lived closer to Magnolia Lane who has played in the tournament.”

How close? “Maybe three minutes. It will be a nice commute.”

Sure will.

List’s return to the tournament is notable given the long gap between his first and second appearances in the Masters. Seventeen years between Masters starts is the second longest stretch since 1960. (Bruce Fleischer, who played Augusta as an amateur, waited 23 years before qualifying again as a professional.)

Since he won at Torrey Pines with an inspired final-round 66, List has had the chance to make the short drive a few times for scouting sojourns that for other qualifiers — and past champions — are an investment of a day or two. He has played with members, most notably Jeff Knox, who often is pressed into service during Masters week as a non-competing marker should an odd number of players make the cut.

Before that, List figures he might have played Augusta twice in the last four years, purposely staying away, he said, “as kind of a selfish thing almost, using it as motivation to get back”.

Before that there was his lone appearance in 2005 when he qualified after finishing runner-up to Ryan Moore in the 2004 US Amateur at Winged Foot. List stayed in the Crow’s Nest in the clubhouse that week, the traditional lodging for amateurs. A few years ago, he told the story of running out to dinner in shorts and a T-shirt and then found the urgency to almost run (remember, there is no running at Augusta!) through the clubhouse because it was Tuesday night and there was kind of a big gathering about to commence: the Champions Dinner.

Next week, he’ll be just as low-key, but in his own home as family and friends descend on Augusta. There is an important tournament to play, but he also wants to soak in the experience of sharing it with people he loves. His daughter, Ryann, will likely join him during the Par-3 Contest. Cookouts are planned. Also laughter. Hugs. And a feeling of a sense of accomplishment. “We’ll keep it light,” he said. I want to treat it as much as possible as a normal tournament week, but it’s also a pretty cool moment for me and my family and friends, and we want to enjoy that experience together, so there is a balance there.”

He’s been pining for this for such a long time. Though he was born in Seattle, List has deep Georgia roots as well, growing up in Ringgold, just south of Chattanooga. He always marks his ball on the green with a Georgia-themed quarter. Keep it light? That might be more challenging for him than navigating the famous course.

“Ever since I was a kid I have been fascinated with Augusta. Obviously, most golfers will tell you that,” he said. “But then living in Georgia and growing up there, it’s just something that has been such a huge goal of mine to not want to have had just that one experience. If I wanted it too badly, so be it, but one reason I have felt that way is that I think I can play really well on that golf course. I did before as an amateur. Every year it was upsetting to me to not be there because I felt like I was missing out on the chance to be competitive in the Masters, and I truly believe I will play well there. That’s been frustrating to me because I think I have all the tools to do well there.”

In 2005, List, a four-time All-American at Vanderbilt University, did play quite well. With uneven rounds of 77-69-78-70 for a 294 total, he finished T-33 and take home a silver medal for second low amateur.

He’s heard one question plenty in the intervening years: Did he think it might not happen, that he might not ever get back?

“You do think that. But then I always stopped myself,” List said after a bit of hesitation. “If I didn’t think I couldn’t get back there — which means, if I didn’t think I could win — then I probably shouldn’t be playing on the tour. A lot of golf is attitude, and my attitude was always that I could find a way. And that is going to be important when I get there. I always feel it doesn’t matter how you are swinging or if you are playing well, the best results come out when you have the right mindset.”

Few are likely to have a better one than the local guy with the best drive of the week. Short and sweet. And satisfying.

The post Masters 2022: What’s it like to wait 17 years to play at Augusta again? Luke List can’t wait to find out appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
SAN DIEGO — It was early in the evening on the California coast, the sun having already dipped in a spectacular canvas of burnt orange and blue. Luke List peered into the near-darkness and up in front of him, about a football field away, he could barely make out the stick with a yellow flag atop it.

The 37-year-old would have been excused for pondering how difficult this would be to play a precise shot in light better meant for moon gazing. He could have had the ready excuse of a nearly two-hour wait after finishing his final round at the Farmers Insurance Open to be in this position, in a playoff against Will Zalatoris. He could have let the mental scar tissue of 205 winless pro starts on the PGA Tour overcome him.

Instead, in that moment, List drew on the mantra he repeated to himself before he arrived on the extra hole: “I told myself if I was going to be in a playoff, I was going to birdie the hole,” he said.

He pulled that off, in the most memorable way possible. On the 18th hole of the Torrey Pines South Course that has seen as much taut drama as most places on tour, List launched a wedge that flew past the flag, slowly spun back and caught the ridge. The ball trickled and trickled and nearly made it to the cup. ShotLink put the distance at eight inches, and no matter how dark it was by the time List eventually reached his ball, it didn’t matter. He could have putted it backhanded wearing a blindfold.

Luke. List. ? pic.twitter.com/cMwENFUcGI

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 30, 2022

“For it to be six inches or whatever the number was, was incredible,” List said. “Obviously that’s the dream, to have a kick-in that you don’t have to putt, but I was ready to have a putt to win anyway.”

When Zalatoris, the hang-loose-looking 25-year-old who had become a clear favorite among the fans in his native California, rolled a too-soft birdie try from 16 feet below the cup and came up short, List let out a guttural yell, racing to hug his wife and their two young children as a PGA Tour winner, finally.

“Still a lot of emotions going through my head, but to get that first win is definitely a relief,” List said. “But I was just really happy with how positive I stayed.”

Neither player seemed to be bothered by how dark it was by the time they returned for the playoff. List had spent some time with his family and practiced some—even saying he thought he “found something” on the range. Zalatoris quickly signed his scorecard and hustled out. Both said there was no discussion about leaving things to Sunday morning.

“Will’s a pretty confident guy anyway, the way he walks and carries himself, so I didn’t notice anything. We definitely wanted to play,” List said.

Added Zalatoris: “We were fine. I thought, you know, it really got dark fast. I really had to rely on past history on the playoff hole. I really couldn’t see much in terms of the read, but I’m not even that disappointed with that part. I made three pars on 18 this week and that’s just not going to get it done.”

Donald Miralle
Will Zalatoris reacts to a missed putt on the 18th hole during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open.

A year ago, List rallied with a Sunday six-under-par 66 on Torrey South to finish tied for 10th. This time, he shot 66 to get to a 15-under total in a cauldron with some of the game’s most accomplished players. Major champions and past Farmers Open winners Jon Rahm, Jason Day and Justin Rose all were within striking distance over the final holes. Rahm, who shot 72-71 on the weekend, and Day, with bogeys on two of the last three holes for 72, missed the playoff by one, as did Cameron Tringale (70). Rose (68) finished earlier and was in position to tie List’s clubhouse lead, but found the pond at 18 with his 5-wood approach and bogeyed.

Of the top five finishers, only List shot in the 60s in a final round. Zalatoris scored 71 and parred 13 consecutive holes, including the playoff, after taking the solo lead with back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth.

And while List hit a 108-yard wedge approach from the rough to 13 feet in making birdie on the 72nd hole, Zalatoris missed an eight-foot putt that would have given the reigning Rookie of the Year his first tour victory.

“I thought the putt I hit on the 72nd hole, I thought I made it. I just needed a hair more speed,” Zalatoris said. “I’ve seen enough putts through the years coming down that hill to know that that putt just doesn’t go left, and it happened to go left.”

After the playoff, Zalatoris walked through a tunnel behind the green looking dazed, but he was clear-eyed and resolute in recounting the disappointment.

Ben Jared
Luke List raises his daughter on the 18th green after winning the playoff hole during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open.

“I want to go get next week, it’s pretty simple,” he said. “I’ve got no regrets today at all. Like I said, I thought I battled like hell all day and handled myself really well. I had my chances, for sure, but that’s just the nature of this game. It’s hard to win out here, there’s no question about that.”

List had played seven-plus years on the tour without a win. In all of his starts, he’d posted two seconds and two thirds. He had a breakthrough victory on the now-Korn Ferry Tour in 2012, and in 2020, in the first pro golf event back after the COVID-19 pandemic break, he won the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass. It wasn’t necessarily a popular triumph, with some resentment by the KFT regulars about a guy coming down temporarily from the big tour to beat them.

Putting has been List’s weakness—he was 185th in strokes gained on the greens this season and outside the top 150 in the category the previous three years. In the offseason, he said he hired Stephen Sweeney, who is based in Florida, as his putting coach. “He opened my eyes to the proper technique, and I worked my butt off,” List said. “I think I was strokes-gained No. 1 on Thursday, which I have never been … in a single round. It just snowballed from there and my confidence grew.”

Considering how long he’d worked for his first win, List seemed more enthralled than emotional. That is, until the subject of the Masters came up. He’s played in the tournament one time, in 2005 after finishing runner-up to Ryan Moore in the U.S. Amateur the previous August. Now he’ll be going back, and it won’t be a long trip. Four years ago, he and wife Chloe moved the family to Augusta, Ga., to be closer to her parents. He can’t help but think about it every time he’s on Washington Road.

“I can’t tell you how much this means to me. That is a special place, and I might get emotional,” List said. “You know, just that’s why you work hard, that’s why you do these things every day, that’s why you travel away from your family at times. To tee it up in April in Augusta will be a lot of hard work, but just really special to have my family. And sleeping in my own bed will be really cool. I’m just over the moon about that. That’s going to be really fun because that’s a place that I feel I can really play well and I’m looking forward to getting back.”

There was one more reward for List. His daughter, 3-year-old Ryann, has been asking for years to bring home a trophy. He promised that when he did, it’d be filled with candy. Besides a surfboard, the Farmers awards a trophy sculptured in the shape of a Torrey pine.

“This,” List said, putting his hand on the trophy, “doesn’t look like any candy can fit in here, but she was happy. She said, ‘Oh, flower,’ so she’s happy with it.”

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By John Strege
Luke List would rather have been elsewhere, at least until Sunday when he won the Korn Ferry Challenge on the Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

List, 35, would rather have been in Fort Worth, Texas, playing in the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge, but his FedEx Cup ranking, 124th, was not good enough to get into the field.

Instead, he opted for the Korn Ferry Tour event, shot rounds of 66, 70, 65 and 67 to win by one, his first victory since a 2012 Korn Ferry Tour win, in this his first Korn Ferry Tour start since 2015. He had gone 208 consecutive starts — 62 on the Korn Ferry Tour, 146 on the PGA Tour — without a win.

“It’s been a while since I’ve won,” List said, “and it’s been a couple months since we’ve played competitive golf, so it feels great, first of all to get back playing competitively and then to win the first week. I’m really excited.”

The last time List played competitively was the first round of the Players Championship next door at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. He was tied for 37th when the tournament was cancelled.

That was three months ago, yet List still was counting on momentum for help.

“The last time I was here was for the Players and I was playing pretty well,” he said. “I tried to just carry that [momentum] into the restart. Obviously, I would have loved to have been at Colonial, but I’m glad I was here this week. It was really a perfect storm to be here and I’m just excited for the rest of the year.”

List, who is in the field for the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage next week, birdied three of the first four holes on Sunday to erase a one-shot deficit to 54-hole leader Will Zalatoris and take a two-stroke lead.

He played the final 14 holes in even par, including a two-putt par from 40 feet at the last hole to defeat Joseph Bramlett and Shad Tuten by a stroke.

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By Dave Shedloski
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — There is a lot to play for Sunday in the final round of the 101st PGA Championship – even if your name is not Brooks Koepka.

After maintaining his seven-stroke lead on Saturday at Bethpage Black with an even-par 70 and 198 total, Koepka remains heavily favoured to win his second straight PGA title, not to mention successfully defend his second straight in a major played in Long Island after his victory last June in the 118th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

Can anyone catch him?

“It would take something special,” said Dustin Johnson, who is one of four players tied for second at 5-under 205.

“Obviously, Brooks is playing tremendous golf, and who knows what could happen,” said Luke List, who also is at 205 and joins Johnson as the only two players with three rounds under par. “Some majors in history show some big leads, guys come back from. Hopefully this is one of them.”

Johnson and List at least feel like they have an outside chance. England’s Matt Wallace, who is eight back, wasn’t fully conceding either. “If I can get to double figures [under par] tomorrow, I mean, a playoff would be nice,” he said.

Xander Schauffele, who trails Koepka by nine, was having a harder time getting fired up about taking on Bethpage without a realistic chance of grasping the Wanamaker Trophy. “I don’t know if the tournament is just less fun because I’m 15 shots back or what it is. But it’s very melancholic after today I’d say, just because every time I look up, I’m 10 to 12 back. So no one likes to play for second, but that’s sort of what he’s doing to us.”

Regardless, it’s a big day for a number of players. And it’s an important day no matter where a player sits on the leader board.

“There’s never a wasted round or a wasted shot,” said five-time major winner Phil Mickelson, who careened out of contention with a 6-over 76 on Saturday. “You can learn on every single one of them.”

At 48, the left-hander was considering what an early start in the final round could do for him. It’s more than you would think.

“There’s a lot of things that you can take out in the small moments, and obviously I’m not going to win this tournament, but the greens are very similar, this grass is Pebble Beach,” said Mickelson, who was looking ahead to next month’s U.S. Open at that iconic venue. “The setup, the rough is very similar, the grasses in the fairway are similar. So you use that as preparation to … see how the ball is coming out of the rough, how balls shoot out of the fairway. All the little details, and you try to build on it and take it into the future tournaments.”

Likewise, the future benefits of a decent final round were important to a less established player like Wallace, 29, making just his second start in the PGA.

“I’ve got to do some work tomorrow and try and get as many World Ranking points as I can, and that will give me confidence going into the rest of the years, and also majors in the coming years,” he said. “That’s important to me, and there’s a lot of drive for me to go out there and prove myself, and try and put a good show on for the crowd.”

Playing in just his ninth major championship, List, 34, of Augusta, Ga., is looking to improve on his previous best showing in a major, his T-33 in the 2005 Masters when he competed as an amateur. At first he insisted that, “we have a lot to play for every week on Sunday, so it’s no exception.”

But majors carry more world ranking points, offer bigger purses, and for American players there are also Ryder Cup points to accumulate.

“I’ve got a lot to play for,” he said, noting that he would try to approach the final round like a regular tournament and not worry about how the leader is faring. “If I start worrying about what he’s doing, I’ve got no chance. For me it’s just trying to get through and give myself as many opportunities to get on the green as possible. I’m just going to go out and try to shoot under par tomorrow.”

Patrick Cantlay, sitting T-8 at 3-under 207, planned to be more assertive about his fortunes. “I’m going to really try and get hot early, because I think those six seven holes are gettable before the course toughens up,” he said of his strategy for Sunday. “I’d like to make some birdies early and just see how low I can go. I’ll come out firing. I’m always better being aggressive.”

For some of the top players, elites like Mickelson, motivation was a little harder to find, but they found it nevertheless.

“If you look at my back nine yesterday [Friday] and my front nine today I was seven-under par, so I want to see if I can carry some of that momentum to the final day,” said two-time PGA winner Rory McIlroy, ranked No. 4 in the world, who completed 54 holes in 2-over 212. “This was the best I’ve hit it in a while, so that’s what we’ll be trying to carry over.”

Rickie Fowler, No. 10 in the world rankings, had more specific goals – a backd oor top five with a Hail-Mary try at runner-up from his position of 1-under 209. “I’d love to go play a solid round of golf, first of all, because I haven’t done that this week,” said Fowler, who has been battling a cold. “I haven’t felt good with any part of my game, so I’m going to go work on it, and, yeah, I think I can go out there and shoot 66 or lower. It would take a good round to do it, but I think I can make a pretty good jump [up the leaderboard] with that kind of score.”

“Some of it [motivation] depends on what the guys are doing in front of me today,” added 2015 PGA champion Jason Day, who, like McIlroy, stands at 212. “I’m a fair bit behind. How far can I sneak up the leader board with a good round? That’s a start.

“But it’s more about building some good confidence going forward and get things rolling in the right direction,” Day, No. 14 in the world, continued. “I want to see some better golf with Memorial and then the U.S. Open right after that. We’ve still got a couple of majors yet. There’s still a big chunk of the schedule to prepare for, and I know I have a few things that I can improve on and gain some confidence. You try to take something out of every day.”

Right. There’s never a wasted round.

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So far, he’s off to a pretty good start.

Sunday at the Honda Classic, Thomas made two birdies over his final six holes, including one on the 18th, to force a playoff with Luke List. He then went on to claim the title with another birdie on the first hole of sudden death. The victory was his second of the 2017-’18 season, seventh in his last 31 starts and eighth of his pro career. It also moved Thomas to a career-best third on the Official World Golf Ranking and just ahead of good friend Jordan Spieth.

This one, though, stood out for its level of difficulty.

While Tiger Woods and most everyone else struggled with one of the toughest three-hole stretches in golf—the 15th through 17th at PGA National’s Champion course—Thomas made nary a bogey on the Bear Trip the entire weekend, netting two birdies on Saturday and three clutch pars down the stretch on Sunday.

Then there was the par-5 18th.

After Thomas and List went shot-for-shot down the back nine on Sunday, List hammered a drive on the home hole, leaving himself a 4-iron in that he hit to the back of the green on the par 5. Thomas, meanwhile, found thick rough off the tee and was forced to lay up rather than take on the water. He nearly holed his wedge from 117 yards, then knocked in a two-footer to send it to overtime.

Related: For Tiger, expectations rise following a tournament—and a Sunday—in the hunt

Playing the same hole again, it was Thomas who found the fairway and List who was in the rough to the right. Thomas hit 5-wood over the water to set up a two-putt birdie, while List tugged his layup into the gallery left before eventually missing a 17-footer for birdie.

“This was a hard win,” Thomas said. “I tried to stay really patient out there.”

At the end, though, pure emotion took over. When the final putt fell, Thomas let out a “F— yeah!” loud enough to be heard on the CBS broadcast. He apologised for the outburst later, but the f-bomb was telling.

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

“Just something about this one,” said Thomas, who closed with a two-under 68. “I was very calm and comfortable, kind of, those first 14 holes, and that’s the first time I’ve had to play the Bear Trap in that much pressure, and it was pretty nerve-wracking. To get it done this week, you know, I was just very excited and it just was—it felt great to get it done.”

The way Thomas is playing, he appears to be on the verge of another great year.

In 2017, he opened with back-to-back victories in Hawaii, shooting a 59 along the way. But he missed three of his next five cuts and in the middle of the summer missed three in a row before winning his first career major at the PGA Championship and adding another victory during the PGA Tour playoffs on his way to capturing the FedEx Cup.

Thomas didn’t wait long to get going this season, either. He won the CJ Cup in South Korea in October, and in each of his three starts leading into the Honda Classic finished no worse than 17th.

Then came Sunday. It was the type of tough-as-nails performance that had been admittedly missing from Thomas’ resume.

Does he think he’s playing better than a year ago?

“Yeah, I do,” Thomas said matter-of-factly. “I feel very confident in pretty much every part of my game right now. I just have really, really played well for a couple tournaments in a row now, which is great.

“I hit some great drives this week when I needed to. Hit some really, really good irons. I hit some great wedges. Had some great up-and-downs, and really made some great putts. So yeah, I feel like my game is in a very good spot at the moment.”

It’s hard to argue otherwise.

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

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By Christopher Powers
Anytime Tiger Woods is in the mix, the focus will be predominantly on him, as it largely was on Saturday at the Honda Classic. But the rest of the field at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., provided its own excitement on moving day, notably Luke List, who birded his final hole of the day for a four-under 66, giving him a one-shot lead over Justin Thomas and Webb Simpson at seven-under 203.

List’s front nine was as stress-free as it gets, the Vanderbilt alum hitting six out of nine fairways and seven out of nine greens en route to a three-under 32. After making six straight pars, List finished birdie-bogey-birdie to grab the lead and post a second consecutive 66. The 33-year-old heads into the final round looking for his first career PGA Tour victory, something he’s had chances at this season, having tied for fifth at the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges last fall and tying for 12th at the Farmers Insurance Open last month.

One of Saturday’s top rounds belonged to Thomas, who fired a five-under 65 that included a back-nine 31 with birdies at both of the Bear Trap’s difficult par 3s, 15 and 17. He’s at six-under 204, in search of his second win of the season and the eighth of his career. Surprisingly, if he does get it done, it’ll be Thomas’ first win in the state of Florida, where he now resides. 

“The Honda Classic is an unbelievable tournament, always has a great field and it has a pretty solid list of winners,” Thomas said. “To be able to join that would be great, but I have 18 holes left, a lot of great players to try and beat, but I’m in a great position.”

Related: Justin Thomas eyes first ‘home’ win

Thomas is joined by Simpson, who shot a bogey-free four-under 66 to give himself a chance to win for the first time since October 2013. Like Thomas, he knows there’s work to be done.

“Of course I want to win really badly,” said Simpson, who can capture his fifth career victory on Sunday, “But I got a warm-up to do in the morning, got range balls to hit. I’ve got to take it one step at a time.”

Tommy Fleetwood (67) and Jamie Lovemark (68) are tied for fourth at five-under 205.

Matching Thomas’ round of 65 was Alex Noren, who produced one of the highlights of the day at the par-5 18th, hitting his 270-yard approach shot to four feet and holing the eagle. He’s in solo sixth at four-under 206, two off the lead. One behind Noren at three-under 207 is Kelly Kraft thanks to a four-under 66.

Seven back of List’s lead at even par 210 is Woods, who carded his first sub-70 round in more than 900 days on the PGA Tour, a one-under 69 that featured three birdies and two bogeys. In order to challenge, he’ll likely need a similar round to the one he shot in the final round of the Honda in 2012, when he posted a 62 to tie for second.

Related: Tiger stumbles at Bear Trap, still shoots 69 and is T-11 with Sunday to play

“You never know what can happen the last few holes here, a lot of things can happen and have happened in the past,” Woods said. “If I can go ahead and post a number early, kind of reminiscent of what I did with Rory (in 2012), you never know.”

The post Luke List holds one-shot lead over Justin Thomas and Webb Simpson at the Honda Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — The Bear Trap got Tiger Woods again.

The 15th through 17th at PGA National’s Champion Course have been tough on everyone this week during the Honda Classic, playing as the second, sixth and third toughest holes on the course, respectively. Woods has struggled there, too, playing that stretch in a combined five over, with two more bogeys coming during Saturday’s third round.

On the 184-yard 15th, Woods pulled his tee shot way left and into the rough. With sand short and water long, his pitch came up short in the rough before he got up and down.

At the 179-yard 17th, Woods sent it over the green and a bunker, again putting himself in a precarious position. He pitched to 20 feet and missed the par putt.

They were his only blemishes on a day when Woods posted a one-under 69, a round that could have gone so much better given how well Woods controlled his ball from tee to green.

“This is probably the highest score I could have shot today,” said Woods, who ended the day tied for 11th, seven strokes off the lead of Luke List heading into Sunday. “I really, really hit it good.”

Related: Luke List holds one-shot lead over Justin Thomas and Webb Simpson at the Honda Classic

Statistically, it was the best Woods has performed all week.

Playing just his ninth round of the year, he hit nine of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens in regulation, the most he has hit all week. Woods’ proximity to the hole was also at its best at 26 feet, 8 inches and through 54 holes he ranks second in the field in that category.

On 14 holes Saturday he had a look at birdie. Only one of those attempts was from outside 25 feet.

“I gave myself plenty of looks,” Woods said. “I just didn’t make anything, and I finally made a nice par putt at 12 and made a nice one at 13.”

Those were the only putts he made outside of 10 feet all day.

Still, there was plenty to be pleased about.

This is only Woods’ third start of the year, and there have been improvements along the way. His 69 on Saturday was his first round in the 60s on tour since the third round of the 2015 Wyndham Championship, more than 900 days ago.

“I can’t be that annoyed because I played really well,” Woods said. “I wish I’d made a few more putts. I hit good putts. I just didn’t get anything going on that front nine but I was hanging in there. I was grinding.”

Going into Sunday he’s also hanging around enough to at least have a shot at contending.

Seven strokes isn’t as big a deficit at PGA National as it is at some venues given the course’s propensity to yield some big numbers.

“I’ve got a shot going into [Sunday],” Woods said. “My job is to go out and post a number. I’ll be far enough ahead that these guys will still have three or four holes to go when I’m done and hopefully I’ll be hopefully my number will be good enough.”

The post Tiger Woods tripped up by Bear Trap and his putter, but still tied for 11th in Honda Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Last year, Justin Thomas missed the cut at the Honda Classic but came back to the course anyway to congratulate his South Florida neighbour and good friend Rickie Fowler when he won the tournament.

Now their roles could be reversed.

Thomas, who shot 65 Saturday to get within one stroke of leader Luke List with one round to go at PGA National, just has to deliver.

“It would mean a lot,” Thomas said of the prospect of winning so close to home. “It means a lot to win any golf tournament. It would mean more the fact of how prestigious this golf tournament is and the list of winners that have won this event, and how strong of a field it is, difficult of a golf course.   

“Half of my wins or a decent amount of my wins have been on easier golf courses, you could say, so it would be cool to get it done at a place like this.”

Saturday, Thomas certainly played like someone capable of winning on one of the toughest tracks on the PGA Tour.

Related: Luke List holds one-shot lead over Justin Thomas and Webb Simpson at the Honda Classic

Thomas, the tour’s reigning Player of the Year off a season in which he won five times, ripped off four birdies over his final nine holes, including on the difficult 15th and 17th, and made just one bogey on the afternoon.

“To play the Bear Trap two under was stealing, I felt like,” he said of Nos. 15 through 17. “I felt like if I parred those holes in, I would have a great chance.”

Indeed.

Related: Tiger Woods tripped up by Bear Trap and his putter, but still tied for 11th in Honda Classic

That trio of holes ranks second, sixth and third in terms of difficulty this week. Thomas’ back-nine 31 was the low score of the week on the more difficult side of PGA National as well.

It’s also not the first time he has played well here.

Two years ago, Thomas tied for third in the event with four rounds in the 60s. He missed the cut a year ago but only by a stroke.

“It really is just how you’re playing,” said Thomas, who has finished no worse than 17th in his last three starts, and last week tied for ninth at Riviera. “I’m playing well right now, so that makes this golf course a lot easier when you’re playing well.”

And if he plays well enough on Sunday, you can bet Fowler will be there to congratulate him.

The post Justin Thomas eyes home victory in Honda Classic, but the big question: Would neighbor Rickie Fowler show up? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — In case anyone has forgotten, Tommy Fleetwood has won five times around the world in his career. That he has yet to do so on the PGA Tour really doesn’t mean that much.

Have game, will travel.

“Yeah, it’s a slightly different test to what we generally get,” Fleetwood, a 27-year-old Brit said of the PGA Tour. “There’s more emphasis, I’d say, on hitting the fairways and around the greens. The greens are just a bit firmer and slopier than we play sometimes, and Bermudagrass we don’t get a lot. I played a bit last year and I’m getting used to it.”

Through three rounds of the Honda Classic he has certainly looked like it.

Saturday, Fleetwood made two birdies and two eagles, including one on the closing hole, en route to a 67 that has him just two strokes off the lead of Luke List heading into Sunday’s final round at PGA National.   

List, by the way, has just one professional career victory. six years ago on the Web.com Tour.

As for Fleetwood, an enormously talented ball-striker, a day after he managed his way through a windswept afternoon with just one bogey in the second round at PGA National, the third round wasn’t as smooth, despite calmer, easier conditions. Still, he was impressive.

Following a messy bogey on the par-5 third, where he yanked his second shot way left and into the water, Fleetwood bounced back by holing out from 140 yards for eagle at the next.

At 13, he made a double bogey after twice finding the sand, but two holes later got up and down from the bunker to save par at the difficult par-3 15th. At 16, he hit a beauty of an approach from 185 yards to 13 feet and made the putt for birdie. At the par-3 17th, he again saved par from the sand.   Then came the par-5 closing hole, where Fleetwood flushed a fairway wood from 283 yards to eight feet to set up his second eagle of the day.     “It’s big,” Fleetwood said of the last. “That finish was a bonus.

“I’ve won a few times sort of recently in the last year or so. The more experience you get, the more experience you can have playing late on Sundays. This is different. It’s the PGA Tour so it’s a new sort of surrounding, but you have to just remember that good golf — you have to go out there, try and play good golf, and good golf, wherever it is, you can only do your best and see what that is.”

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